Blockchain and distributed ledger technology has drawn increasing attention from both the business and legal communities. This article addresses the potential benefits of blockchain when applied throughout the securitization process. From reduction in cost, time, and fraud risk to increases in certainty, trust, and accuracy, the benefits can be significant. Tracking financial assets on a blockchain can reduce reliance on credit rating agencies and enable investors to follow more closely the performance of assets and calculate associated risk. This should increase confidence for investors and increase interest in the secondary market. By providing a high level of data security, blockchain can also lower the due diligence burden and remove regulatory inefficiencies from the securitization process. Through the elimination of certain third-party intermediaries, blockchain can lower costs and save time. Moreover, by facilitating the use of smart contracts, blockchain can help to consolidate and standardize complicated pooling and servicing agreements and track a servicerâs collection activity. We encourage readers to explore blockchain and its potential impact on securitization in further detail. <b>TOPICS:</b>Fixed income and structured finance, information providers/credit ratings
General Insurance occupies a strong position in today's market. It has a centralized way of operation, which makes it inefficient, less transparent, with trust problems and creates conflicts of interest between insurance companies and policyholders. Furthermore, it's an industry with relative difficulty in innovation, which contrasts with today's services powered by new technologies. New disruptive technologies have the capacity to compromise the value chain of traditional insurance, creating a big problem in its stability and future. Associated to this new kind of technologies, comes a new way of thinking perpetuated by the new generations based on the new trend of sharing economy. They give priority to new technology based services, which are decentralized, more convenient, more price competitive, transparent, and efficient and they prefer services which put the user more in control instead of the current less personalized options. New business models such as Social Insurance, are being developed and powered by new technologies and this new way of thinking. Social Insurance enables people in need of insurance to connect and pool their money and risks. It offers coverage that is cheaper, more transparent, and more relevant to the customer. Members of this type of insurance are both policyholders and underwriters. All these factors compromise the future of traditional insurance companies and their business model. The main goal is to create a new business model in order to adapt insurance companies to the new trend of shared economy. This new business model is going to be focused on health insurance, based in peer to peer communication and is going to be backed up by a business case and a prototype powered by a blockchain database. Blockchain is a decentralized transaction ledger shared amongst all nodes participating in the system. Every node has an updated copy of the database and cannot update it without the consensus of the network, removing the need for having a central authority or trusted third party to monitor the system. Each Blockchain implementation may have its own consensus mechanism (e.g. Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake) to ensure that one node on its own cannot change the database without being validated by the network. Bitcoin is the world's most well-known Blockchain implementation, a public ledger for all transactions made in with a digital currency. However, Blockchain technology can be applied to multiple use cases and industries using Smart Contracts (a collection of code that runs on the network) to define the rules of the business. It fits the purpose for this business model, because it has peer to peer communication by default and has no central authority, making the service more efficient and transparent.
Transactions between individuals have always been a part and parcel of human society for the division of labour made people interdependent. The medium of transaction has also been evolving along with the evolution of society and human consciousness from barter system to commodity money to fiat currency and now to digital currency or cryptocurrency. But since evolution is a form of error correction, the problem of double spending in digital currency was solved by a distributed ledger system called Blockchain. Since 2008 onwards the blockchain technology has been separated from bitcoins to be injected to many other problems related especially to banking transactions. Blockchain technology enables the creation of decentralized currencies, smart contracts and intelligent assets that can be controlled over the Internet
Simon Trimborn, Mingyang Li, Wolfgang Karl HĂ€rdle
Cryptocurrencies have left the dark side of the finance universe and become an object of study for asset and portfolio management. Since they have a low liquidity compared to traditional assets, one needs to take into account liquidity issues when one puts them into the same portfolio. We propose use a LIquidity Bounded Risk-return Optimization (LIBRO) approach, which is a combination of the Markowitz framework under the liquidity constraints. The results show that cryptocurrencies add value to a portfolio and the optimization approach is even able to increase the return of a portfolio and lower the volatility risk. The codes used to obtain the results in this paper are available via www.quantlet.de
The blockchain is a relatively new technology used to verify and store transaction records for online cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The system is redundant and distributed, making it difficult for transactions to be rescinded, duplicated, or faked. Beyond online currencies, the blockchain has potential uses in health care, education, and many other fields. This column will briefly describe what the blockchain is and how it is being used, potential future uses that may be of interest to librarians and medical practitioners, and some of the problems with the system.
Mutual Distributed Ledger (MDL, aka blockchain) technology is in an emergent phase. New applications are under development; new uses are being researched; new consortia are being formed to explore MDL applications. Considering appropriate governance structures has had a lower priority so far, but trust in the increasingly popular systems will depend on their incorporating good governance principles. It was the aim of this study to identify those principles, in order to provide a roadmap for developers and users alike.
An analysis of the material collected through desktop research, as well as several discussions with practitioners and stakeholders including a conference and webinar on the subject, has revealed that effective governance in MDL systems relies on people rather than software and rests on three pillars:
Architecture: The role of the governance structure, its composition, remit, powers, responsibilities, and its relationship with users, is a critical component.
Accountability: Effective governance of MDLs enhances trust. Trust is enhanced when a governance structure is accountable to its stakeholders, transparent in its decision-making, and subject to periodic audit and third party review.
Action: The governance structure must develop strategic and risk management plans, which are delivered through effective performance management frameworks. Trust can be further enhanced through the use of the voluntary standards market to independently verify performance metrics and the systems established to compile them.
As currently understood and used, "smart contracts" are merely a means to execute the terms of a full legal contract. This paper, however, proposes the creation of a semantic legal layer to support blockchain based legal contracts. Some of the primary challenges to such an implementation, including the need to develop robust, jurisdiction- specific legal ontologies, and develop means to preserve the evidentiary character of records leading up and proving contract formation, are considered. Particular attention is given to the particular challenges posed - and purposes behind - the use of legal language in contract drafting, with consideration of ways to utilize distributed ledger and linked data technology to leverage that specialist language for a broader base of contracting parties.
Along the history, people organised in communities needed payment means in order to exchange goods or deliver services. From beads and feathers to metal and paper money they have always improved the way transactions were made. The invention of the Internet opened new doors in the field of payments, through the quick access to information and the emergence of significant international online communities. The members of these communities became aware of the importance of decentralising the way they acquire goods or services, thus eliminating the middlemen. Cryptocurrencies represent the response of these communities to the old centralised means of payment, controlled by the bankers, politicians and interest groups. Our paper aims to analyse the cryptocurrency phenomenon revealing some of its advantages and disadvantages, to increase the awareness on the topic. We based our research on the existing literature, the relevant international databases, the official positions of the financial and regulatory institutions on the analysed matter.
Ioannis Kounelis, Gary Steri, Raimondo Giuliani, Dimitrios Geneiatakis · 6 authors
Micro-generation promises to greatly contribute to the energy balance of the energy grid; however, so far, its market penetration is going slow due to the few, or not-existing, direct economic benefits end-users would enjoy by deploying an in-house micro-generation system. In this paper, taking advantage of the potentialities of blockchain technologies, we propose a solar energy production and distribution architecture using smart contracts, a particular distributed ledger paradigm, to support automatic energy exchanges and auctions, potentially enabling a new, open and more fruitful, under an end-user perspective, energy micro-generation market. We present the conceptual design of the approach, as well the energy grid prototype and the control layer, running on the Ethereum platform. The proposed architecture has been implemented and validated through an in-house developed test-bed.
P Sreehari, M. Nandakishore, G. Vamsi Krishna, Joshin Jacob · 5 authors
A proposal is made to use blockchain technology for drafting and probating âwillsâ. Using blockchain technology for drafting and probating wills makes them tamper-proof, secure, transparent. Furthermore it increases the speed of probation without dealing with the tribulations caused by the current system.
Robert Norvill, Beltrån Borja Fiz Pontiveros, Radu State, Irfan Awan · 5 authors
Smart contracts have recently attracted interest from diverse fields including law and finance. Ethereum in particular has grown rapidly to accommodate an entire ecosystem of contracts which run using its own crypto-currency. Smart contract developers can opt to verify their contracts so that any user can inspect and audit the code before executing the contract. However, the huge numbers of deployed smart contracts and the lack of supporting tools for the analysis of smart contracts makes it very challenging to get insights into this eco-environment, where code gets executed through transactions performing value transfer of a crypto-currency. We address this problem and report on the use of unsupervised clustering techniques and a seed set of verified contracts, in this work we propose a framework to group together similar contracts within the Ethereum network using only the contracts publicly available compiled code. We report qualitative and quantitative results on a dataset and provide the dataset and project code to the research community.
The purpose of this article is to discuss the application of blockchain technology in e-government, particularly in the Chinese context. Chancheng District, part of Foshan City in Guangdong Province, China, has undertaken a project called "The Comprehensive Experimental Area of Big Data in Guangdong Province" since 2016. Promoting the application of blockchain technology in e-government is an essential part of this undertaking, which is the first use of blockchain in government in China. Taking Chancheng's project as a case study, this article analyzes the framework, difficulties and challenges of applying blockchain to e-government at present, and discusses how blockchain technology can contribute to the development of e-government and public services in China. This article considers the practical realities in China and discusses the application of blockchain technology in Chinese e-government, finding that blockchain technology can bring the following benefits: (1) improvements in the quality and quantity of government services, (2) greater transparency and accessibility of government information, (3) development of information-sharing across different organizations, and (4) assistance in building an individual credit system in China. However, information security, cost and reliability are still major problems in application. Thus, establishing a general application platform of blockchain technology and developing management standards are crucial for promoting and applying blockchain in e-government. Blockchain provides an effective way of making government services more efficient, but standardizing the management system, processes and responsibility for the application is necessary for its further promotion. This article, by providing an analysis of the practice of blockchain in e-government in China, could serve as a foundation for further practical work and theoretical research in government services.
A new wave of technological innovations, often called âfintech,â is accelerating change in the financial sector. What impact might fintech have on financial services, and how should regulation respond? This paper sets out an economic framework for thinking through the channels by which fintech might provide solutions that respond to consumer needs for trust, security, privacy, and better services, change the competitive landscape, and affect regulation. It combines a broad discussion of trends across financial services with a focus on cross-border payments and especially the impact of distributed ledger technology. Overall, the paper finds that boundaries among different types of service providers are blurring; barriers to entry are changing; and improvements in cross-border payments are likely. It argues that regulatory authorities need to balance carefully efficiency and stability trade-offs in the face of rapid changes, and ensure that trust is maintained in an evolving financial system. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation.
In the cryptographic currency Bitcoin, all transactions are recorded in the blockchain - a public, global, and immutable ledger. Because transactions are public, Bitcoin and its users employ obfuscation to maintain a degree of financial privacy. Critically, and in contrast to typical uses of obfuscation, in Bitcoin obfuscation is not aimed against the system designer but is instead enabled by design. We map sixteen proposed privacy-preserving techniques for Bitcoin on an obfuscation-vs.-cryptography axis, and find that those that are used in practice tend toward obfuscation. We argue that this has led to a balance between privacy and regulatory acceptance.
This chapter looks beyond the novelty of self-executing âsmart contractsâ in blockchain networks and explores developments against the background fact that commercial parties have, for centuries, used documentary credit to simulate autonomous performance. Blockchain-based smart contracts and documentary credit share three core functionalities which are essential to any effective autonomous performance, analogue or digitalâthey both (i) act through internalized media of exchange; (ii) operate as closed systems; and (iii) provide means of securing sufficient resources to guarantee contractual performance. Using these three functionalities as a framework, this chapter conducts a comparative analysis of mechanisms for effecting autonomous contractual performance in a commercial setting. From this comparison, a few hypotheses are drawn regarding the potential areas where smart contract technology is more likely to find fruitful application. In particular, the chapter considers potential limitations to applying smart contracts to scenarios beyond digital asset transfers, how dispute resolution mechanisms should be designed to complement (rather impair) the autonomous nature of contractual performance under smart contracts, and potential capital cost implications which might arise in some cases when parties seek to replace human intermediaries with smart contracts.
The major advantages of blockchain based cryptocurrencies are the independent verifiability of transactions and the anonymity that they allow. Blockchains can also process transactions at much lower cost than banks and credit card companies. On the other hand, the value of cryptocurrencies is quite volatile. In addition, the crypto-ecosystem is not easy to access for many less technologically savvy consumers and it is especially difficult to make financial connections to the outside world. These factors limit the utility of cryptocurrencies as a store of value and a medium of exchange, respectively. This paper proposes the creation of CryptoBucks, a cryptocurrency backed 100% by dollars. CryptoBucks solve the problem of volatility and offer various levels of privacy and anonymity depending on how the system is implemented.
An emergent use of the blockchain technology is to enable the transfer of digital assets between two parties. An extension to this is the Smart Property in which physical assets could be transferred too. Another extension is the exchange of services of all kinds in form of digitally executed contracts. In this paper, the problems with existing attempts to implement an all-inclusive smart contract platform were identified and a new framework proposed. In this framework, the technical and legal terms of any contract could be executed digitally if prepared with appropriate legal prose and required parameters for each of the terms of the contract. The cores of the framework are the technical, business and legal models, which are connected to each other. The technical model adapts block chain technology while ensuring granularity in implementing the terms of the contract as presented by the legal model using legal prose and necessary parameters. Using the proposed framework, some questions that have persisted with current implementation of Smart contracts that involves the blockchain were answered. The framework improves the efficiency and practicability of using smart contract for physical assets and non-financial services with emphasis. The contribution is mainly on ensuring an adoptable and practicable smart contract platform.
Dong He, Ross Leckow, V. Haksar, Tommaso Mancini-Griffoli · 9 authors
A new wave of technological innovations, often called âfintech,â is accelerating change in the financial sector. What impact might fintech have on financial services, and how should regulation respond? This paper sets out an economic framework for thinking through the channels by which fintech might provide solutions that respond to consumer needs for trust, security, privacy, and better services, change the competitive landscape, and affect regulation. It combines a broad discussion of trends across financial services with a focus on cross-border payments and especially the impact of distributed ledger technology. Overall, the paper finds that boundaries among different types of service providers are blurring; barriers to entry are changing; and improvements in cross-border payments are likely. It argues that regulatory authorities need to balance carefully efficiency and stability trade-offs in the face of rapid changes, and ensure that trust is maintained in an evolving financial system. It also highlights the importance of international cooperation.
Blockchain technology is likely to be a key source of future financial market innovation. It allows for the creation of immutable records of transactions accessible by all participants in a network. A blockchain database is made up of a number of blocks ?chained? together through a reference in each block to the previous block. Each block records one or more transactions, which are essentially changes in the listed owner of assets. New blocks are added to the existing chain through a consensus mechanism in which members of the blockchain network confirm transactions as valid. The technology allows the creation of a network that is ?fully peer to peer, with no trusted third party, ? such as a government agency or financial institution.
A. Seetharaman, A. Saravanan, Nitin Patwa, Jigar Mehta
In an era of technology advancement when the entire world is talking about the âInternet of Thingsâ whereby we are expected to have connectivity between anything and everything, Currency cannot be left behind. Paper currency is bound to be a thing of past, as virtual currencies will start taking over and Bitcoin is well poised to achieve this feat. Not only it will revolutionize the way payments are made, but also have potential to impact the future of world currencies like USD, which is already facing challenges from EURO or Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY). The rise of crypto-currencies will add a new dimension to this challenge for US Dollar (USD)The focus of this study is to understand multiple factors which are translating Bitcoin (BTC) that is gaining momentum in various fields of global finance and how disruptive it can be, including replacing main fiat currencies in the financial system impacting mainly USD. The key variables studied are Regulation or lack of it around Bitcoin, Bitcoin Technology, Bitcoin Economy and the usage of Bitcoin as a Currency. This research used the latest statistical tool ADANCO 1.1.1 by Henseler and Dijkstra (2015) to analyze the data collected by building a partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM). The observations of this study will help understand the future of global finance from multiple standpoints, especially Regulation, Cryptocurrencies and the fiat currencies.
The trend of digital currencies is catching fire these days, more and more people want to use digital currency. When we talk about digital currencies then how can we forget taking the name of Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. These currencies because of their P2P nature have won lot of hearts. You must have heard that "Every Rose has a thorn", similar type of thing is with Cryptocurrencies too. Because of the reason these currencies are P2P nature and there is no 3rd party who controls these cryptocurrencies, these are being used for illegal drugsarms dealing and for purchasing weapons online which are used in the terror attacks. We have found out a solution in order to put an end to it and the solution is Freezing of Assets. In this the owner will have the liberty to freeze any account whichever seem fishy and the freezed accounts will have their money intact, just the difference will be that they won't be able to transfer the money.